creditors are so close on his heels it isn't funny. He needs cash or he can't
afford to stay around, and that's literal. Being desperate, he'd sell a bill of
bad goods to Shebley - or anybody.
"So on the face of it, I'd say that any mystery involving the chest of Chu
Chan could be classed as a hoax, pure and simple. Strange things come floating
in from the Orient nowadays, but that would be just part of Graff's build up.
But I'm considering the opinion of someone more reliable than Graff."
"And who is that?"
Cranston's eyes fixed steadily on Margo as he pronounced the name:
"Professor Giles Frescott, curator of the Museum of Antiquities."
Margo was very much awake and highly intrigued. Swallowing some more black
coffee, she nodded that she wanted to hear more.
"The esteemed professor is anything but a practical joker," continued
Cranston, "yet it was his subtle strategy that sent Shebley and myself to
Washington to play hide-and-seek with each other. I'm back, but for all I know,
Shebley is still down there looking for me, hoping I'll lead him to the chest of
Chu Chan. Frescott doesn't want either of us to acquire it."
"And why not?"
"Because Shebley knows Graff," explained Cranston, "and therefore Shebley
may have learned something. I know the Orient and therefore I may already know
something."
"But Benisette knows nothing!"
"Precisely. Therefore Professor Frescott cleared the way for Benisette to
buy the chest."
"Couldn't Frescott have made a bid for it himself?"
"And given his hand away?" Cranston shook his head. "Never. A curator of a
museum doesn't go bidding around antique galleries. But you can be quite sure
that Professor Frescott is somewhere in the offing."
"How far is that offing?"
"That's for you to find out." Rising, Cranston gestured to a cab outside
the restaurant window. "Suppose you go down to Talcott's Galleries and be there
when he opens shop. Tell him I'll be along a little later; that I'd like at
least to see the chest of Chu Chan."
"You're stopping off somewhere?"
"Yes, at the Cobalt Club," replied Cranston. "I want to have a chat with
Commissioner Weston. You know, Margo" - the steady eyes took a far away stare -
"there may be something deep behind this chest of Chu Chan. The slightest clue,
perhaps in the form of some trifling mystery that has baffled the police, may be
a lead to some impending crime."
They were going out of the restaurant during Cranston's speech and Margo
was actually in the cab and on her way to Talcott's, before the very thing
popped into her mind again.
Some trifling mystery!
Margo herself could have furnished Lamont with such. That business of the
statue face, alive and staring from the cab window, was the very sort of lead
that would have intrigued Cranston in his present mood. But it was too late to
tell him now so Margo resolved to wait until Cranston arrived at the antique
galleries.
The cab pulled up in front of Talcott's Galleries. The place was already
open and Margo saw Homer staring from the doorway. As the cab stopped, Talcott's
